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Jim Brown rips the NCAA, calls the organization 'reprehensible'

Legendary Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown has always been someone who speaks his mind, and that was no different Saturday at a Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan Fest event in Cleveland.

When asked about the NCAA at the event which included fellow Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Harry Carson and was hosted by Larry King, Brown held nothing back.

“The NCAA is probably the most reprehensible organization God ever created,” Brown said. “Total exploitation. The kind of money they make, the kind of life they live, it’s embarrassing.”

According to ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon, Brown’s remark was a response to a fan who asked “why a player with a career-ending injury in college could not receive a payment to compensate for lost future income.”

Brown made it clear that he is for major changes to the model of collegiate sports and was critical of the NCAA saying it did things “for the young people.”

“I’m totally for change and total change. And I think that body needs to be torn apart and put back together with everybody’s best interests in mind,” Brown said.

Even though it has been nearly 60 years since Brown, 78, was a four-sport athlete (football, lacrosse, basketball, and track) at Syracuse, he made sure to get his point across about the state of college athletics as harshly as possible.

“I wanted to say it as harsh as I could, because I want them to come at me in any way they want to,” Brown said. “Because it’s a shame the way that it happens.”